ATHEIST GROUP ASSAULTS CATHOLICISM

Catalyst May Issue 2003

Freedom From Religion Foundation is an atheist organization located in Wisconsin. It is also an anti-Catholic group that never tires of bashing the Church. Two recent examples show how debased the outfit is.

It is not uncommon for states to put voting booths in churches. Though this bothers very few, there are some who are incensed about the practice. Count Robert Meltzer among the disaffected. Meltzer is a Jewish attorney who filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to render the practice unconstitutional. He explained his reaction to voting in a Methodist church. “In order to vote, you basically had to bow before the cross. I was sick for a week.”

In support of this position is Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “Asking a feminist to vote in a Roman Catholic Church is like asking a black man to vote in a KKK hall,” said Gaylor.

William Donohue answered her in a news release:

“Gaylor’s remarks are helpful because they clarify matters. There can no longer be any doubt regarding her motives: it is not fidelity to the First Amendment that drives the Freedom From Religion Foundation, it’s bigotry. And at the top of her list is Roman Catholicism. Because the Catholic Church opposes child abuse in the womb, Gaylor sees fit to compare it to the Klan. This is the way she thinks.”

Donohue went on to say that “It is theoretically possible to be an atheist and friendly toward Catholicism. But it becomes more difficult when one is an activist in behalf of atheism. It has certainly been my experience that such persons are almost always anti-Catholic bigots.”

It doesn’t take much to get under the skin of this anti-Catholic organization. For example, the Madison Metro System in Madison, Wisconsin, puts a picture of prominent persons on its monthly bus pass. Featured on the April bus pass was a picture of Mother Teresa. This was too much for Gaylor who immediately released a statement to the press condemning this as a violation of church and state.

A spokeswoman for Metro said Mother Teresa was selected because she made Time magazine’s list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. The May bus pass features a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; Gaylor did not criticize this selection.

This is what we’re up against. The intolerance exhibited toward religion these days is astounding, especially when the religion in question is Roman Catholicism. The Catholic League, of course, stands ready to do battle against these bigots, but it does amaze us that even the slightest statement of religion in the public square is enough to ignite a protest.